The community is called Del Rey. And while it has never been a crime-free neighborhood on a par with Bel Air, we were surprised to learn that, amid City Hall's back-slapping about low arrest stats, Del Rey has seen a minor explosion:

According to the LAPD violent crime in the Del Rey area, which is east of Marina Del Rey, north of Playa Del Rey, and south of Mar Vista, was up nearly 10 percent in 2012.

L.A. Weekly staff writer Dennis Romero has worked on staff at several magazines and newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, where he participated in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the L.A. riots. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone online, the Guardian, and, as a young stringer, the New York Times.